Play It Forward: April 23-29 on your sports calendar

(AP Photo/Bahram Mark Sobhani)Lakers forward Metta World Peace stretches against the stantion before a game against San Antonio last week. The Spurs beat the Lakers twice in the matter of a couple of days,and Peace got himself a seven-game suspension for an elbow thrown against OKC’s James Harden, knocking him out for awhile.

The NBA says its TV ratings are up and the average game attendance will be about the same as last season. So why not just play a 66-game regular season every year? All the exhausted and injured players must be clamoring for it. Why even bother with a regular season? Draw the seeds out of Charles Barkley’s feedbag and start the playoffs fresh. “If you cut the season shorter, we cut our revenues significantly as well,” said NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said. “Players would make less, so no, and I think it’s not optimal to play a condensed season in this fashion.” So, a season that started on Christmas day because of a labor dispute ends right after Administrative Professionals Day (ask your secretary what that means) and leaps right into a post-season that’ll be a full four rounds — 16 wins to the title. Which translates to the Lakers or Clippers possibly playing 28 more games to win a title, or about 42 percent of the length of the regular season.
The Lakers won three of the four against the Nuggets in the regular season; the Clippers took two of three against the Grizzles in that same shortened time frame, but but lost their last meeting by nine in April 9.

MONDAY

MLB: Dodgers vs. Atlanta, Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Prime:

The video making the rounds last week was of Braves center fielder Michael Bourne holding up a game against the D’backs because, well, he was back in the clubhouse, perhaps watering down the callouses on his hands? “So much for Michael Bourne being the fastest player on the team,” said Dan LeBatard on his ESPN2 show. “Clearly, there’s some things he does faster than others.” That’s a relief. The series continues on Channel 9 for Tuesday and Wednesday (both 7:10 p.m.), with at least 18 bathroom breaks built into each contest.

TUESDAY

MLB: Angels at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m., FSW:

Ervin Santana’s 0-3 start (with a 6.75 ERA) comes with six surrendered homers — two in each game. Based on his ESPN.com statistical breakdown (linked here), he’s on track to go 0-35 in 35 starts in 208 IP. How’s that add up? Same way it’s adding up for a 6-10 start for these Angels. The series continues on FSW for Wednesday (4:10 p.m.) and Thursday (10:10 a.m.).

NBA: Clippers at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m., Prime:

The Hawks are aligned to open the playoffs against Boston, a team that they beat 97-92 late last week.

WEDNESDAY

NBA: Clippers at New York, 5 p.m., ESPN, Prime:

The Clippers dock in New York for the regular-season finale, and the “Linsanity” crazyship has already sailed.

THURSDAY

NBA: Lakers at Sacramento, Channel 9, 7:30 p.m.:

The future of the Power Balance Pavilion is in the balance again, as the Kings apparently may be stuck in Sacramento for another year in this arena, but who knows beyond that. No more cowbells after this regular-season finale? Whatever the case, it’s been fun. And the NBA can’t figure out how to capitalize in the state capitol? What can Jerry Brown do for them? Meanwhile, in Oakland, San Antonio finishes the regular season against Golden State, trying to lock up the No. 1 spot in the West and finish off the pairings.

NFL Draft: Round 1, 5 p.m., ESPN, NFL Network:

Our mock draft: Indy takes that big quarterback from Stanford, the next team takes that fast guy from Baylor, whoever goes next — your Los Angeles Vikings of Minnesota — takes the lineman from USC . . . we’re not even sure why we’d even care after that point. Just so Chris Berman can validate it? Rounds 2 and 3 are Friday (4 p.m., ESPN), with rounds 4-7 on Saturday (9 a.m., ESPN and ESPN2). There are no rounds past 7th, but if there were, somehow ESPN would figure out a way to spread it over the next three weeks. Former Colts President and Vice Chairman Bill Polian has been added to the ESPN talking heads crew, but he’s at the kids table back in Bristol, Conn., with Trey Wingo and Todd McShay.

Bubba Watson finally gets back on the tour following his win at the Masters — and does so after fashioning a mini green jacket for his newly adopted son, Caleb, a photo of which he tweeted out (linked here). Watson defends his title in New Orleans, which he won last year in a playoff over good friend Webb Simpson. CBS has the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday.

FRIDAY

MLB: Dodgers vs. Washington, Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Prime:

That Don Drysdale-Maury Wills mini-bobblehead giveaway on Saturday (6:10 p.m., Prime) likely comes with the Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg (2-0, 1.08 ERA, 25 Ks in 25 IP) going up against Chad Billingsley. The Nats, who lead the NL with a 2.34 staff ERA and a meager .202 batting average against, send Ross Detwiler (2-0, 0.56) up against Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 1.61) in the opener. The series ends Sunday (1:10 p.m., Prime).

MLB: Angels at Cleveland, 4:05 p.m., FSW:

Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez was hit with a $750 fine from Major League Baseball for a “reckless” message on his Twitter account after a bench-clearing scuffle recently in Kansas City. After batters for both the Indians and Royals were hit by pitches, touching off two bench-clearing dustups a week ago, the message @chrisperez54 said: “Huge team win tonight; time for a sweep to tell the Royals it’s not ‘Our Time’, it’s #TribeTime. P.S. You hit us, we hit you. Period.” Keep that in the memory bank. The series continues with day games Saturday (10:10 a.m., Channel 11) and Sunday (10:10 a.m., FSW).

A few weeks ago, Edmonton coach Tom Renney was fined $10,000 for suggesting the NHL maybe “needs Hollywood in the playoffs,” implying that calls going against his Oilers were to insure the Kings’ post-season appearance. So now, how far does the league want the Kings to hang out? St. Louis knocked off San Jose in five games during the first round and won the franchise’s first playoff series in a decade. The Kings beat the Blues three out of four meetings, but consider their 1-0 shootout victory on March 22 more indicative of how things could go here.

The Lakers had their eye on playing the Mavericks for some first-round payback until they slipped to the No. 7 spot — actually tying Utah for the No. 8 spot with a record of only six games above .500. The defending NBA champs are just 5-5 in their last 10 games, the worst mark for any Western Conference playoff-bound team.

How the Spurs ended up with another late spurt, winning nine of their last 10 and taking 50 victories in a 66-game season remains a mystery. They tied Chicago for the best overall record in the league.

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